Gender and Mining in Sierra Leone: Short Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Sierra Leone is rich in natural resources, but women in the country's extractive communities rarely benefit from this wealth. Women who constitute about 50.9% of Sierra Leone’s population are excluded from key decision-making processes and often suffer high levels of poverty and gender-based violence. 

In recent years, the government of Sierra Leone has enacted several laws, policies, and provisions to address gender inequality in the extractive sector, most notably through the revision of the Mines and Minerals Act (2009). But authorities, governing bodies, and policy makers have failed to translate these laws into tangible improvements in the lives of women in extractive-affected communities who unfortunately bear the brunt of the country’s high poverty profile. Civil Society Organizations have urged Sierra Leone’s government to do more by implementing the laws practice and ensure that the link between minerals extraction and ambitions to transform women’s lives is fully realized.

This event was based on research conducted by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) on gender issues in the extractive sector in Sierra Leone. The research was aimed at understanding how and why governments incorporate gender provisions into laws and policies on the extractive sector, and whether these provisions (where they exist) advance gender equity and women’s rights in a meaningful way. NRGI experts used the research findings to produce a short film, which NRGI presented at the event.
 
The short film titled “Women and Mining in Sierra Leone: Power, Policy and Political Will” aims at fostering discussions around gender issues in the sector in Sierra Leone with multiple stakeholders. It is aimed at inspiring policy makers and civil society actors to be gender aware and deliberate about implementing actions in decisions and policy making processes.

The film was produced by NRGI and funded by Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF).

Moderator: Nafi Chinery, West Africa Manager, NRGI

Speakers:

• Daniel Gbondo, Minerals Policy Advisor, Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources of Sierra Leone
• Esther Finda Kandeh, Executive Director, Women on Mining & Extractive, Sierra Leone
• Silas Olan'g, Africa Co-Director, NRGI.